Current Status and Management of Scientific Information...

Academy Sponsored Report

Curr ent Status and Management of Scientific Information Relating toIndian EnvironmentMADHAV GADGIL1,* and CHINMAYA S RATHORE2

1D. D. Kosambi Visiting Research Professor, Goa University, Taleigao, Goa 403 206, India2Professor, Indian Institute of Forest Management, Nehru Nagar, Bhopal 462 003, India

(Received on 08 May 2015; Revised on 30 October 2015; Accepted on 30 October 2015)

Summary

To address the important challenge of taking good care of India’s environment, we require substantial, good quality, and

reliable information. Unfortunately, such information is in very short supply. Most of it is collected through the state

machinery. With a few notable exceptions like India Meteorological Department and the Indian Space Research Organization,

the agencies involved exhibit a number of shortcomings. These include: (1) Failure to maintain records, (2) Very patchy,

incomplete information, (3) Suppression of accurate information, (4) Deliberately falsified information, (5) Failure to make

information publicly available, and (6) Failure to involve public in generating useful information. Three significant avenues

for involving the public in generating useful environmental information, namely, preparation of ward-wise Environmental

Status Reports by Local Bodies under the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments, preparation of People’s Biodiversity

Registers by Local Bodies under Biological Diversity Act, and compilation of information generated through student

projects under educational system-wide compulsory Environmental Education courses are being scarcely tapped.

To address this challenge, the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MOEF&CC) established around 1983

an Environmental Information System whose 68 centers focus on newsletters, research papers, court orders, etc. and little

on useable environmental databases. In view of this inadequacy MOEF&CC started a new environmental information

facility called the Environmental Information Centre in 2002. Regretfully EIC has altogether stopped functioning around

2010.

Evidently, the prevalent exclusionary culture of bureaucratic management of information cannot be maintained in the

modern, open democratic society of India. In response, the Government has promulgated the National Data Sharing and

Accessibility Policy and set up a Nataional Spatial Data Infrastructure. This ought to lead to a sustained effort to geocode

environmental information and make it available as GIS ready datasets. To this end, we need to start a fresh initiative to

create a new Environment Infromation Infrastructure that can act as an umbrella platform to collate and disseminate

environmental information in the country. We must also strive towards creating partnerships with public sector and private

sector digital platforms, in particular (a) ISRO’s Bhuvan and (b) Google Public Data Explorer.

To these proposals, we must now add one more dimension, namely, that the information system should not only be

publicly accessible, but be a participatory system involving all interested citizens. It should be broad in scope and involve

not only various Central and State Government agencies, but also all the Local Bodies and organizations such as industries

and mines that are expected to document their pertinent activities. However, the fact that with the notable exception of the

Sikkim springs programme of the Government of Sikkim, several long-standing opportunities such as Biological Diversity

Act have so far not led to any concrete actions, indicates that the citizens must step in and take the initiative on their own.

Such a people’s movement for making good environmental information openly available could very effectively piggyback

on the hugely successful Wikipedia experiment.

*Author for Correspondence: E-mail: [email protected]

Proc Indian Natn Sci Acad 81 No. 5 December 2015 pp. 1087-1112 Printed in India. DOI: 10.16943/ptinsa/2015/v81i5/48344

Published Online on 10 December 2015

1088 Madhav Gadgil and Chinmaya S Rathore

Preamble

The new century is being heralded as the knowledgeage. The very rapid growth over the last five centuriesof science and science-based technologies has by nowmade possible an intensification of human use ofmaterial, energy, and informational resources toastonishingly high levels. However, mere intensificationof material, energy, and informational resources cannotbe stand-alone objectives; what people desire areservices from resource uses. Since there are inevitablephysical limitations on continuing increases in materialand energy resource use, what is desirable is to obtainmore and more services from such uses through betterand better use of information; there being far lessstringent limitations on the growth and use ofinformational resources. Thus, what we need is notgenerate and consume more and more electricity forits own sake, but secure more services such asillumination or comfortable ambient temperature.What matters in terms of the quality of life are theper capita useful energy and material use, not percapita gross energy and material use, as the latterleaves out of consideration the potential for enhancingefficiencies. Consider, for example, the great advancesmade through use of LED lights based on augmentingand then deploying greater understanding of scienceunderlying light emission. Clearly, the key to furtherprogress in the knowledge age is deploying our rapidlygrowing stocks of information to enhance end-services provided by use of material and energyresources.

Humans desire manifold end-services.Electricity may provide us illumination, or heat orenergy to manufacture a variety of desired goods andso on. But we also desire clean air and water, and ifelectricity generation, say coal-based, entails adeterioration of air and water quality, that also needsto be factored in. Hence a significant aspect ofenhancing desired services to human society is todeploy information on unintended and undesirableconsequences of use of material and energyresources so as to minimize such unwantedconsequences. An excellent example is the informationconveyed through Rachel Carson’s famous book,“Silent Spring” (Carson, 1962). This path-breaking

work pointed out that while the use of the pesticideDDT enhanced food production – and more food onthe plate was certainly a desired end-service - it ledto decimation of the bird populations, and the song ofbirds in the spring season was also a highly desiredservice. This awareness led to a ban on DDT, andwelcome recovery of wildlife.

The village of Hivare Bazar in AhmadnagarDistrict of Maharashtra provides another notableexample of how good information on consequencesof intensification of energy and resource uses canresult in enhanced end-use services. Ground water isneeded to meet domestic needs and to cultivate cropsin this agricultural village. Energy is needed to lift thisground water. In many villages surrounding HivareBazar electricity is used to lift ground water frombore-wells, and the resulting use at non-sustainablerates has led to digging of ever deeper bore-wellsand use of more and more electricity to pump waterout. The village community of Hivare Bazar examinedthe situation and decided to restrict use of bore-wellsfor drawing water through hand-pumps for domesticuse, and only permit open wells for irrigation. Theyalso implemented several measures for rechargingground water based on detailed locality specificinformation and action. As a result of such good useof pertinent information, Hivare Bazar has ensuredgreater availability of water for irrigation and domesticuse at far lower costs than the surrounding villages(Gadgil, 2015 pers. obs.; Pawar, 2015 pers. comm.).

Nation’s Four-fold Capital Stocks

As the Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitzemphasizes, any nation must aim at a harmoniousdevelopment of its four-fold capital stocks: not justman-made capital that GDP highlights, but naturalcapital, human capital and social capital as well (Stiglitz,2012). To move in this direction, it is vital that thesociety has at its disposal good information, not juston a limited range of economic activity but on a wholerange of parameters relating to natural, human andsocial capital. It is such information that theEnvironmental Impact Assessments and Social andEconomic Cost-Benefit Analyses are meant to provide,but currently failing to do so. Consider, as an example,

Current Status and Management of Scientific Information Relating to Indian Environment 1089

the controversial Chembanmudy hill stone quarriesof Pathanamthitta district of Kerala. This enterprisewill count as positive economic development gainsnot only quarrying, crushing and truck transport, butalso the boosting of sales of anti-cancer and anti-asthmatic drugs as a result of the ill-health caused byquarrying activities. In the absence of proper records,other relevant elements of economic activities suchas the decline in agricultural productivity and loss ofemployment for agricultural labour that ought to becounted on the debit side are being overlooked.

In addition, the GDP-centric view totally ignoresthe on-going grave depletion of natural capital, humancapital and social capital. Thus, in the case ofChembanmudy, landslips and blockage of streams areadversely impacting land, water, forest and biodiversityresources. Health, education and employment arethree important components of human capital. In theChembanmudy case, health has suffered, with evenyoung children developing lung cancer. Mothers havepetitioned that the noise pollution attendant onunceasing truck traffic does not permit their childrento focus on studies. As to employment, there is littlefor local community members. Most of the smallnumber of labour employed are from tribal tracts ofOrissa or Jharkhand, people whose livelihood has beendestroyed by rampant mining in their own nativedistricts. There are horror stories making rounds ofhow this disorganized labour force is ill-treated, withno compensation for accidental injuries or even death(Kuttoor, 2013).

Social capital resides in social harmony,cooperation and trust. These too are suffering underthe prevalent economy of violence. This economy ispromoting grabbing and spoiling of land, water, mineraland forest resources to benefit a few, at the cost ofthe larger society. This is being facilitated bylawlessness and social injustice, as witnessed by thevery large number of illegal quarries currentlyoperational in Kerala, reportedly estimated at 1700out of a total 2700 functional quarries (Gadgil, 2013pers. obs.).

Obviously, we need fullest possible understandingof manifold environmental consequences ofintensification of energy and resource uses. The issue

that this report attempts to address is whether or notwe are collecting, organizing, and using environmentrelated scientific information well, and if not, why notand, finally, on how we can improve on the currentpractices.

What is Science?

Modern science is a highly effective system ofgrowing knowledge that entails observing factsdirectly, often with the help of carefully designedexperiments, discerning patterns, inferring processesthat give rise to the observed patterns, making modelsof working of the system under consideration,formulating hypotheses about the system, makingpredictions, verifying predictions through freshobservations of facts, revising models of the workingof the system, and then making new predictions, in anever-continuing process (Moore, 1993). In the marchof science, anybody is welcome to challenge anyassertion: whether it is of facts supposedly observed,or of models of how the system works. Along withrejection of all authority, science has given up claimsof arriving at any absolute truth. Science deals inknowledge that is always treated as provisional, thatis open to being supplanted by newer and moreeffective observations and theories (Bernal, 1939).

It is this openness that has ensured that inscience the proportion of empirically sound to unsoundinformation is very high, and any deliberatemanipulation of information is quickly exposed andweeded out. In consequence, the rate of growth ofscientific information has been continuallyaccelerating. On the other hand, classical knowledge,with a tendency to rely on authority, has grown ratherslowly; for instance, Ayurveda has remained largelystagnant over last 1500 years (Gadgil, 2001a).

Systems: Simple and Complex

Science deals with a whole gamut of phenomenaranging from simpler ones such as the oscillations ofa pendulum to highly complex ones such as the weathersystems that give monsoon rains. Our understandingof the sciences of the simpler systems has grown farmore rapidly than that of the more complex ones.This is because experimentation, involving extensive


replication of conditions where just one or a fewparameters are permitted to vary at a time is a keyingredient of the scientific method. Experimentationhas worked well in the case of simpler systems thatcan be specified adequately in terms of a small numberof parameters. This has permitted the formulation ofa number of generalizations, of universally applicablelaws with considerable predictive power. As a result,human understanding of simpler physical and chemicalsystems has progressed enormously. Thisunderstanding underpins a whole range of powerfultechnologies.

But with the more complex systems, the situationis different. Complex systems characteristicallyrequire a large number of parameters for theirspecification. As a corollary, each manifestation ofthe system tends to be unique. Thus every patch offorest harbours a set of animal species slightly differentfrom every other patch in the world, or every cyclonein the Arabian Sea is different from every other. Sincethe experimental method depends on theexperimenters’ ability to control all relevantparameters and to replicate conditions at will, it cannotbe readily applied in the study of complex systemslike ecosystems (Shrader-Frechette and McCoy, 1993;Goldenfeld and Kadanoff, 1999).

Understanding Complex Systems

Since experimentation is difficult, arriving at anunderstanding of complex systems depends onextensive observations as witness the network ofweather stations or river gauges dotting the country.Naturally the State becomes involved and comes tocontrol the basic observational data as well as itsinterpretations. The state invariably caters to a varietyof conflicting interest groups who may find some ofthe facts on the ground unpalatable, and who maytherefore wish to control and manipulate the data aswell as its interpretation. As Whitehead (1925) putsit, science is firmly anchored to the bedrock ofempirical observations, however unpalatable these maybe to some people; hence any such attempts to controland manipulate are incompatible with the spirit ofscience.

Bernal (1939), who pioneered the study ofpractice of science as a social activity provides a mostilluminating definition of science: ‘Science is anorganized enterprise of skepticism’. In other words,science is a system of continual open scrutiny of theprocedures being employed towards any given set ofobjectives, such as estimation of forest stocks andyields that can be sustained, and of the level ofreliability of the results these procedures produce. Onthis view, the main ingredients of the scientificenterprise are:

Open access to all facts and inferences,

Rejection of all authority other than that ofempirical facts and logical inferences,

Welcoming all interested parties to question allassertions relating to facts as well as logic.

The state controlled scientific endeavors dealingwith environmental issues do make claims to be sciencebased, but catering as they do to a variety of specialinterests wishing to manipulate data and itsinterpretation, they tend to violate the spirit of science.Additionally, the state controlled scientific endeavorstend to be distrustful of the substantial body ofunderstanding of complex systems that is part of theexperience and tradition based informal knowledgethat resides with the “barefoot ecologists” of thecountry (Gadgil, 2001b).

Experiential Ecological Knowledge

The experience of a group of Bengaluru basedecologists investigating the fate of wild amla(Phyllanthus emblica) populations on the nearby BR T Hills provides an interesting example of the valueof folk knowledge. The hypothesis of the professionalecologists was that the regeneration of amla isgoverned by the amount of fruit collected forcommercial use, and that the then prevailing low levelsof regeneration were related to excessive harvests.So they laid out statistically well-designed experimentsto test the influence of different levels of harvests.The local Soliga tribals felt that these experimentswould yield no results of interest, because, accordingto their understanding of the ecosystem based on manyyears of first hand observations, the levels of


regeneration were primarily influenced by forest fires.Amla seeds required fire to germinate well, and theSoligas felt that low levels of regeneration wererelated to suppression of forest fires in recent years.The scientists did not initially give credence to thissuggestion and continued their experiments. Only laterdid they come to the conclusion that the Soligas wereindeed right (Murali, K. S. pers. comm.).

Thus, since it is difficult to discern what therelevant parameters are in a complex system, it ishard to design meaningful experiments. This does not,of course, mean that experiments have no place inthe study of complex systems. But, the BRT hillsexample points to the fact that field observations,including historical observations are vital to theunderstanding of such systems. Such field observationsare at the heart of the folk knowledge systems, oftendealing with highly complex systems. The resultantexperiential ecological knowledge underpins manyprudent and sustainable folk practices of managementof natural resources. Such practices, largely ignoredby the bureaucracy, include protecting keystoneecological resources such as trees like banyan andpeepal belonging to genus Ficus, protecting sacredponds and pools in the river and protecting sacredforest groves and regulated harvests from villageforests (Gadgil, 2000).

Official Management of Knowledge

The management of environmental information,dominated by official agencies, influenced as it is byspecial interests, suffers from many deficiencies. Theprevalent practices largely lack traditions oftransparency, and of sharing of the results, themethodology employed to arrive at them and the logicfollowed in the inferences made. Of course, theofficial, supposedly scientific, natural managementfollows certain systematic procedures such as ofDetailed Project Reports for River Valley Projects orForest Working Plans. But, science is not merely amatter of systematic procedures. Much moreimportantly, it is a system of continual open scrutiny.How far the supposedly scientific management ofenvironmental resources such as forestry departs fromthis ideal became evident to one of us (MG) while

attending a meeting in early 1980s in Kolkata, presidedover by the Finance Minister of West Bengal to discussenvironment and forest issues. During the course ofthis meeting, the head of the forest departmentasserted that working plans are technical documentsthat must never be made available to general public.In such absence of openness, we continually encounterproblems such as the highly inflated estimates ofbamboo stocks, or the false claims of the numbers oftigers in Sariska and Goa. (Prasad and Gadgil, 1981;Tiger Task Force, 2005).

In consequence, there are several serious short-comings in management of scientific informationrelating to Indian environment. These include:

1. Generating and managing information underfalse pretenses

2. Falsification of data

3. Suppression of scientific information

4. Failure to collect / examine pertinent data

5. Suppression of scientific activity

6. Failure to act on pertinent legislation

False Pretenses

As a striking case of false pretenses at being scientific,consider forest and wildlife management systems.These exercises are not grounded in good empiricaldata or sound logic, they do not encourage publicscrutiny, and they do not attempt to verify thepredictions made.

Weakness of Empirical Basis

Forest management decisions have often been takenwithout adequate empirical evidence. Thus,preservation plots, established to measure growthrates of diverse tree species of Indian forests in early1900’s have been mostly destroyed; little data hasbeen collected (Gupta, 1981). Large scale plantationsof Eucalyptus were propagated in high rainfall tractsof Western Ghats by clear cutting rain forest withoutadequate trials. Realized productivities of theseplantations, seriously affected by fungal diseases,were 1-3 tonnes/ha/yr as opposed to projected


productivities of 14-28 tonnes/ ha/ year (FAO, 1984;National Commission on Agriculture, 1976; Prasad,1984). Similarly, no data was maintained for pilotTropical Pine plantations meant to serve as the basisof decision on whether to take up large scaleplantations in Bastar. Nevertheless, a programme oflarge scale plantations was being pushed through(Gadgil, Prasad and Ali 1983). The estimates ofbamboo resources of Karnataka were exaggeratedby a factor of ten to facilitate acceptance of a projectto set up a new paper mill. As a matter of fact, the1964 Working Plans for Dandeli in Uttara Kanadashowed high levels of bamboo stocks forcompartments that had been deforested 10 yearsearlier to set up West Coast Paper Mill because thefigures were blindly copied from an earlier WorkingPlan. The project documents for establishment ofpaper mills in Karnataka did not take account ofpossibilities of gregarious flowering and death ofbamboo clumps over extensive areas, although therewere many historical records pointing to this possibility.Furthermore, the Karnataka Forest Departmentprescribed a regime of harvest of bamboo based on afaulty growth model that did not recognize that bambooclumps grew exponentially (Kadambi, 1949). Thesilvicultural practices by West Coast Paper Millsinvolved cleaning of thorny covering that developsnaturally at the base of a bamboo clump. This “clumpcleaning” was meant to decongest the clump andpromote better growth of the new shoots. Thispractice was counter-productive, for the removal ofthe thorny covering rendered the young shoots readilyaccessible to grazing by a whole range of herbivores.As a consequence, the recruitment of new culms tothe clumps remained very poor and the bamboo stocksremained stagnant. In contrast, the local villagers werefully aware of this difficulty attendant on clumpcleaning and left the thorny cover intact whileharvesting bamboo for their own use (Gadgil andPrasad, 1978; Prasad and Gadgil, 1981).

The pharmaceutical industry in Karnataka uses300 plant species. While limited data on stocks of 27of these, largely based on records of auctions, isavailable, there is no data whatever on the stocks ofthe remaining 273 species (Karnataka Planning Board,1996). Similarly, a negative list banning export of drugs

using certain plant species had to be withdrawn whenthe Government could provide no data to justify thelist (Gadgil and Rao, 1998).

The State of Forest Cover (SFR) report, whichbiannually maps the total forest cover for the country,is being produced since 1987 by the Forest Survey ofIndia. The SFR uses remotely sensed data from theIndian Remote Sensing Satellite for its assessments.The term ‘Forest Cover’, as defined by SFR refersto “all lands more than one hectare in area with a treecanopy of more than 10% irrespective of ownershipand legal status including orchards, bamboo and palm.‘Forest Cover’ thus indicates presence of trees onany land irrespective of their ownership” (SFR, 2013).Ravindranath et al. (2012) and Ravindranath et al.(2014) have reported that the SFR, due to the abovedefinition of forest cover, has been overestimatingforest cover in India.

Barring humans, and very small biologicalpopulations, only Indian forest departments provideexact numbers such as 17456 ‘wild bears’ in 2005 inKarnataka (Gadgil, 2006a). Otherwise, it is universallyaccepted that total counts are impractical and likelyto be highly unreliable and what is appropriate isestimates of the total population based on samplingstudies with appropriate confidence limits. There ispractically no data on significant issues such asnumber of human habitations inside Tiger Reserves,levels of human-wild life conflicts and costs ofconservation imposed on local communities (TigerTask Force, 2005). Similarly, authorities of the stateof Madhya Pradesh (MP) have provided noinformation on impact of fishing in Tawa reservoir onthe biodiversity in response to a request by TawaMatsya Sangh.

Working Plans as Hypotheses

The modern scientific method has been termed asthe “hypothetico-deductive” method. Hence, a trulyscientific enterprise would treat documents such as“Forest Working Plans” as scientific documents tobe made available for peer review by all interestedparties, not as official secrets. The yields expected tobe realized, and the stocks expected to be left behindafter the harvests would be treated as hypotheses to


be tested. If the yields do not materialize, or the stocksare not sustained, then a scientific enterprise wouldacknowledge that there are obvious errors of fact orlogic, and attempt to look for and correct them. Itwould also try to bring on board all interested parties,technical experts, as well as other stakeholders fromthe civil society, in the effort to understand the mistakesand correct them. None of this has ever beenpracticed. Because of these serious scientificdeficiencies, a study of Forest Working Plans revealsthat nowhere in India have the forest resources beenutilized in a sustainable fashion. Instead, there hasbeen a universal pattern of sequential overexploitation(Gadgil and Guha, 1992).

Failure to Sustain Forest and Wildlife Resources

Working Plans of Quilon Division in Keralasuccessively converted Protection Circle intoSelection Felling Circle and then into ClearfellingCircle as the forest resources of ever steeperslopes were exhausted (FAO, 1984).

To quote one casual observation from a WorkingPlan: In the Yekkambi - Sonda area the A coupesunder Edie’s plan and replacement felling areasunder Garland’s plan have resulted in totalexploitation of all valuable species and theseareas have only bamboos and useless growth.Most of the overwood of valuable species hadbeen removed under the so - called “uniformsystem” over large stretches of reserve forestarea in the false hope of inducing naturalregeneration of teak and other valuable species.As much as 30,834 acres were totally exploitedof which 8235 were planted up ... Garland’sreplacement fellings under uniform system wasa total failure as it failed to induce or establishnatural regeneration of teak or other valuablespecies. (Wesley, 1964).

West Coast Paper Mill was expected to meetits resource requirements in perpetuity fromUttara Kannada circle. Within 20 years of itsoperation it had not only exhausted these, butwas moving further and further away, to AndhraPradesh (AP), then Garhwal and finally to

Nagaland to bring in supplies of bamboo (Gadgiland Prasad, 1978).

Karnataka Forest Department successivelyadded harder and harder species to its list ofsoftwood to be made available to plywoodindustry at highly subsidized rates as the stocksof the more desirable species were exhausted(Gadgil, 1989).

In 1980, the Forest Conservation Act wasenacted and commercial use of Indian forestsreduced only following exhaustion of suppliesfrom Indian forests and beginning of large scaleimports (Gadgil and Guha, 1992). Wildlife andbiodiversity conservation efforts, too, have notbeen focused and have not been securelygrounded in scientific understanding.

Without adequate scientific evidence it has beenassumed that subsistence uses by local peopleare necessarily detrimental from a conservationperspective. On the contrary, shifting cultivationover millennia is probably responsible forenriching India’s biodiversity by promotingevolution of hard ground race of Barasinga(Rucervus duvaucelii).

Salim Ali and experts of International CraneFoundation recommended that ban on grazingby buffaloes at Bharatpur would greatlyenhance the quality of habitat for water birds.In fact, cessation of grazing promoted profusegrowth of Paspalum, a water loving grass,choking the wetland and making it a worse waterbird habitat (Vijayan, 1987).

Studies by ATREE have documented that useof non-timber forest produce by Soligas in BRThills in Karnataka is fully sustainable. In spite ofthis evidence all such use is being banned.

Research units attached to most Tiger Reserveshave remained inactive, mostly without any staffin place, and with little output to show.

A high proportion of country’s protected areaslack properly formulated management plans(Tiger Task Force, 2005).


Falsification of Data

There are many examples of quite deliberatefalsification of data.

Bamboo Stocks

The forest based industries were vigorously promotedin early years of independence. These included paper,plywood, polyfibre and the matchstick industry. Onesuch paper mill was set up in Dandeli in UttaraKannada district of Karnataka in 1958. At the time itwas established, the Forest Department had assessedthat the bamboo resources of Uttara Kannada districtwould provide the raw material for the paper mill inperpetuity. However, the raw material was, in fact,exhausted within a decade. Field studies by the IndianInstitute of Science, Bengaluru showed that this waspartly due to the fact that the figures for the availabilityof the bamboo stocks had been grossly exaggerated,by as much as a factor of ten times (Prasad andGadgil, 1981).

ENERCON

India is today engaged in a drive towards enhancingenergy production through every available route. Oneof these is the so-called green wind energy. Acompany named ENERCON has set up wind mills inPune district on the crest of Western Ghats just southof Bhimashankar Wild Life Sanctuary, famous for thepresence of giant squirrel, Maharashtra’s state animal.This is the northernmost stretch of evergreen foreston the Western Ghats and its southern continuation inMahabaleshwar has been constituted as anEcologically Sensitive Area (ESA) as far back as1999. The Indian Board for Wild Life (IBWL) hadresolved in 2002 that a zone of 10 km next to all WildLife Sanctuaries and National Parks should beconstituted into Ecologically Sensitive Areas. Whenthe wind mill project was mooted, the concerned RangeForest Officer had faithfully recorded the presenceof significant plant resources as well as extensivepopulations of wild life species including Giant Squirrelin areas where the windmills have now come up afterbeing cleared in 2009. Some Gram Sabhas and GramPanchayats also refused to give consent to the project.

The green wind energy projects are exempt fromEnvironmental Clearances but require clearances fromForest Department in accordance with 1980 ForestConservation Act, FCA. When the request camefrom ENERCON, the IBWL stipulation of 10 km ESAwas set aside, Forest Rights Act was shelved, someGram Panchayats’ No Objection Certificates wereapparently forged, RFO’s honest submission wassuppressed and the concerned Forest Conservatorgave a palpably false statement and promptly clearedthe project (WGEEP, 2011).

Environmental Impact Assessments

Currently the whole process of assessment ofenvironmental consequences of various humaninterventions is being comprehensively sabotaged withlarge scale falsification of data. This is well-broughtout by an officially sponsored study of the quality ofthe Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA)submitted, compliance with Environment Clearance(EC) conditions and the adequacy of theEnvironmental Management Plans (EMP) withrespect to 105 mines in operation in Goa by the Centerfor Environmental Education (Gadgil and Dongre,2013). Essentially, every EIA contains deliberatelyfalsified information with respect to:

Existence of water sources within leases andadjoining the leased boundary

Demographic profile in terms of presence ofST communities

Actual distances between the boundaries ofmine leases and protected areas

Specifically:

a. T.C. No. 01/51 belonging to Shaikh Salimsituated at Devpan Dongor of Caurem villagein Quepem taluka does not make any mentionof the existence of perennial water spring withinthe mining leased area. The EC has a specificcondition in their letter not to disturb the waterspring and maintain 50 meters of naturalvegetation on each side and enrich this area byplanting native species of vegetation. Thiscondition is completely violated.


b. T.C. No. 14/52 of M/s Badrudin H. Mavanidocuments the presence of a nallah flowingabout 6 km away from the lease area but doesnot make any mention of river Kushavati whichis adjoining to the mine lease boundary.

c. The river Bicholim which is classified as a floodprone river and touches the lease boundary ofTC number 28/53 of M/s Zateye and Co. findsno mention in the document.

d. TC No. 35/51 denies the existence of anyperennial water bodies in the mining lease areasand mentions the presence of only one springadjacent to the mining leased area. As per thesurvey carried out by the water resourcedepartment Govt. of Goa ref. WRD/WDII/SDIII/F35/322/2009-10 dated 18.12.2009, thereare around 30-40 springs including the famousTakazor in close vicinity to the mining site. TheAgriculture Department of Government widetheir report No. 3/5/ext/46/mining/2009-10/D.AGREE/489 dated 5th Nov. 2009 mentionsthat the area has 30 natural springs that help inproviding water recharge to Kushawati riverbesides supporting plantation crops and paddyfields plus drinking water.

e. With respect to TC numbers 4/55, 8/50, 2/57,60/52 and 19/52, the EIA document does notmention of water courses in and adjoining mininglease but EC issued by the Ministry ofEnvironment makes mention of water courses.

The citizen respondents consulted during thecourse of this study were unanimous in stating thatwhile preparing the EIA, the consultants have neverconsulted the local people for any information, norare the people aware that such an exercise was beingundertaken, and that data given in EIA relating tosocial, economic aspects, to biodiversity, agricultureand demography are often not correct (Gadgil andDongre, 2013).

Even organizations like National EnvironmentalEngineering Research Institute (NEERI), a CSIR lab,The Energy Research Institute (TERI), Ernst &Young, Engineers India Limited (EIL) etc. have been

involved in presenting fabricated data. Thus, the EIAreport for the Dandeli 18-MW Mini-hydel project inKarnataka prepared by Ernst & Young was found tobe based not only on fraudulent data but also heavilyplagiarized from another EIA report prepared for theTattahalli Augmentation Scheme. Scanned pages ofboth these reports enumerating how pages after pagesof one report were used for the second report areavailable on the Environmental Support Group website(ESG, 2000). Interestingly, when this case wasextensively highlighted by the media, TERI wasengaged by the Government of Karnataka to preparea fresh EIA which again turned out to be based inpart on fraudulent data (Daniels, 2000).

An EIA submitted for Umbarshet bauxite miningin Ratnagiri in 2006, Maharashtra was found to beheavily plagiarized from an EIA report of a Russianaluminum company to mine bauxite in the KomiRepublic of Russia submitted to the European bankin 2004. While located on an entirely differentcontinent, the Umbarshet bauxite mining EIA reportreproduced amongst other things, even environmentaldata from the Russian report which included data onwater quality, rainfall, animal densities and number ofspecies (Dutta & Sreedhar, 2011). Other fraudulentpractices of falsification of data in EIA’s submitted inIndia and the secrecy around EIA reports have beenwidely documented (Kohili and Menon, 2005; Dutta,2007; Dutta, 2008; Swidereska et al., 2008; Bindra,2009; Mukherjee, 2012; HRW, 2012; Dutta, 2014)

Suppression of Scientific Information

Zoning Atlas for Siting of Industries

The Zoning Atlases for Siting of Industries (ZASI)provides a striking example of suppression of scientificinformation. This set has been prepared for most ofthe districts throughout the country as a coordinatedeffort of Central and State Pollution Control Boards.The exercise was justified by the Government of India(GoI) agencies themselves on grounds that thisinformation would facilitate proper location of newindustrial units which would benefit industrialdevelopment by ensuring that industries do not proposenew units in unsuitable spots, thereby avoiding undue


delays and obviating protests. ZASI adopts a systemsperspective, and attempts to evaluate potentialcumulative impacts that may cross some unacceptablethresholds. With this in view the reports consider thepollution load-bearing capacity of various parts of anygiven district, prevalent levels of pollution and levelsof permissible additional pollution generating activity.Astonishingly, the Ministry of Environment andForests, GoI itself has suppressed this vital data setthat was generated at large public expense and muchinvestment of human resources. Even its own WesternGhats Ecology Expert Panel was not informed of thisdata set by the Ministry of Environment and Forestsdespite specific inquiries for all available data sets, tillthe Panel learnt of its existence through some localconcerned citizens of Ratnagiri district. As a result ofrequests, the Panel was then provided a copy of theRatnagiri Zoning Atlas for Siting of Industries, althoughit failed to access any others, except that of Goa, theonly one in the whole country to have been madepublic due to citizen pressure (WGEEP, 2011).

Ratnagiri ZASI’s (MPCB, 2006) clearconclusion is that no more polluting industries shouldbe located in the Lote MIDC area. Despite this thereare plans to set up a new 550Ha Petro-Chemicalcomplex next to MIDC area; a completelyinappropriate decision.

The Regional Plan for Goa (RPG-2021)

Goa is (and continues) as the only State in India tohave a State Level Regional Plan. Thereby the entireterritory is covered by differentiated regional levelland uses. The planning process has become moreand more information intensive and participatory witheach successive plan, the latest in the series beingGoa Regional Plan 2021. The first step in this RPG-2021 planning was compilation of a comprehensive,spatially referenced, database on land, water and othernatural resources of Goa state. This information wasselectively shared with all Gram Sabhas and theirsuggestions as to possible errors in the database anddesired pattern of land use obtained, consolidated andused as one important basis for preparation of thefinal plan. Regrettably, the Government of Goa hasnot continued with the dialogue, failing to go back to

the Gram Sabhas when it felt it appropriate to divergefrom the Gram Sabha suggestions. Nevertheless, thisis an important scientific database for all furtherexercises and would have provided an excellent basisfor WGEEP. Regrettably, despite repeated requests,this data was never made available even to WGEEP,an official Panel set up by the Government of India(Ribeiro 2011 pers. comm.; WGEEP, 2011).

Failure to Collect/Examine Pertinent Data

Much important, environment related information issimply never collected. Indeed, the grave disregardin this context is reflected the observation in JusticeShah Commission’s Report on Illegal Mining in Goa(Shah Commission, 2012):

“Part IV. Section 24 of the Mines and Minerals(DR) Act, 1957 was not observed at all and that noinspection was carried out of iron ore mines…. whichhas caused loss to the ecology, environment,agriculture, ground water, natural streams, ponds,rivers, biodiversity, etc.”

The objective of EIA exercise mandated underthe Environment (Protection) Act 1986 is to protectthe environment. This Act defines the “Environment”as including water, air and land and interrelationshipwhich exists among and between water, air and landand human beings, other living creatures, plants,microorganisms and property. Hence, the scope ofthe EIA exercise is broad, and should not beinterpreted in a restrictive fashion, even thoughspecific guidelines were not issued till 2010. Theseguidelines also clearly underline the broad scope asindicated by its mention that “Vehicular traffic densityoutside the mine lease area, existing and afterbeginning of the mining activities should be given. Themode of transport of mineral and waste includingloading, unloading in mining area should also bediscussed. Vehicular load must be calculated. Further,the mineral transportation outside the mining leasearea (road, rail, conveyor, rope way, water way,pipeline etc.) may be specified” (ASCI, 2010).

We examined the Goa EIA, EC, EMPexperience on this background (Gadgil and Dongre,2013). Mining has substantial impacts that pervade


through the entire state of Goa, impacting the WesternGhats, the midland plateaus and the coastal regions,the land and the waters, the forests, the agricultureand human settlements. Clearly, these need to beviewed in a comprehensive and integrated manner ifthe environmental impact of mining is to be properlyassessed and addressed through appropriatemanagement measures. Such a holistic view has beenlacking, and specific enquiries under the Right toInformation Act have brought out that essentiallyno information has been collected by the concernedagencies on the important issues highlighted inTable 1.

Athirappilly Hydro Electric Project

The proposed 163 MW Athirappilly Hydro-electricproject on Chalakudy will be seventh of large damson this 144 km small, but heavily dammed river.Chalakudy, with her magnificent waterfalls and rapidsand her unique biodiversity rich gallery forests hasone of the highest levels of fish diversity amongWestern Ghats rivers. It is clear that the EnvironmentalImpact Assessments prepared for the project, andthe public hearings conducted were flawed and theHigh Court has repeatedly set them aside. The RiverResearch Centre’s (RRC) assessment of the projectbrings out that the project report has made exaggeratedclaims of availability of water in the river; it has notlooked into the likely adverse impacts on the currentlyavailable irrigation from the river, and on the scenicwaterfall and thereby the thriving tourism business(WGEEP, 2011).

Ratnagiri Tree Cover

Another case in point relating to failure to maintainproper information relates to the forest cover ofRatnagiri district of Maharashtra. At the time of theinitial forest settlement in late 19th century, only 1%or 2% of the district’s forest was taken over by thestate, the rest was left in private hands. While thiswas heavily exploited initially to meet Mumbai’sdemands in 19th century, and later to support the milllabour strike in 1980’s, the forest has regenerated verywell after these assaults. Today some 48% of thedistrict has such a good secondary forest cover,although the government statistics claims that it has

practically none. Notably enough the official exerciseof preparation of Zoning Atlases for Siting ofIndustries, that has supposedly employed satelliteimagery in its work shows only 2% of the land asbeing under forest cover, obviously because it hasblindly relied on the State Forest Department mapsinstead of actually looking at the satellite data (MPCB,2006).

Agriculture

Our Agricultural research establishment, includingAgricultural Universities have kept no track of vitalparameters on India’s farmlands such as levels oforganic matter and mineral nutrients in the soils,development of pesticide resistance amongst croppests or spread of introduced genes for production ofBt toxins in GM crops.

Suppression of Scientific Activity

Forest Departments continually obstruct scientificactivity in areas under their control, which extendsover 1/5th of the country and harbours some of themost interesting sites for ecological research. Thisharassment has steadily increased over the years aswas repeatedly stressed by many scientists deposingbefore the Tiger Task Force. For instance,Raghunandan Chundawat stated (Tiger Task Force,2005):

“Unfor tunately in last three decades nosystem has been created that encourages orinstitutionalises access to availableprofessional research in protected areas northat takes advantage of the growing body ofprofessionals with expertise in relevant areaswho work outside the government. We needto change the attitude of our managementfrom a guard protecting jewels to a librarianwho is managing library of unexploredknowledge and inviting people for learning.These problems occur now and againbecause we have failed to create a system,which supports and provides protection toindependent research in the country.”

This is apparently linked to the desire to suppressthe fact that the authorities are continuously engaged


Table 1: Goa mining related environmental issues and agencies

Issue Agencies

Lowering of ground water level Water Resources

Drying up of springs and other water courses on the hills Water Resources

Siltation & shallowing of streams, river beds and estuaries Water Resources

Change in the flow of water in the river and increased floods Water Resources

Formation of waves due to barge movements Captain of the Ports

Increased water turbidity Pollution Control Board

Increased nitrate, iron and manganese content Pollution Control Board

Oil pollution Pollution Control Board

Depletion of ground water and water supply to farmlands and orchards andAgricultureloss of agricultural productivity

Destruction of springs and other water sources and consequent disruptionWater Resources, Hydrogeology and Agricultureof irrigation to farms and orchards and loss of agricultural productivity

Siltation of farms and orchards leading to loss of agricultural productivity Water Resources and Agriculture

Breaking of estuarine khazan land bunds due to over barge traffic movementAgriculture, Hydrogeology, and Water Resourcesin rivers leading to loss of agricultural productivity

Loss of agricultural productivity due to oil pollution of water and soil Pollution Control Board and Agriculture

Loss of agricultural productivity due to excess iron and manganese contentPollution Control Board and Agriculturein water and soil

Turbidity in water, impact on photosynthesis and plant productivity, Pollution Control Board and Fisheriesas well as productivity of filter feeding crustaceans in streams, riversand khajan lands

Increased sedimentation and choking of bottom dwelling shell fish and Pollution Control Board and Fisheriesother organisms in streams, rivers and khajan lands

Iron and manganese pollution impact on aquatic organisms in streams, Pollution Control Board and Fisheriesrivers and khajan lands

Oil pollution impact on aquatic organisms in streams, rivers and khajan landsPollution Control Board and Fisheries

Disturbance to aquatic animals due to waves created by barge movementsPollution Control Board and Fisheriesin streams, rivers and khajan lands

Destruction of special habitats like hill plateaus (sada), hill streams Wild Life and Biodiversity Boards and Forest

Impact on coastal fisheries of increased barge traffic in rivers Pollution Control Board, Captain of the Ports andFisheries

Impact on coastal fisheries of increased ore loading points and of barge Fisheriesand ship movement in the coastal and offshore waters

Reduction in availability of land based as well as aquatic wild food Wild Life and Biodiversity Boards and Forest, Fisheriesand Health

Impacts of air, water and noise pollution on health Health

Extra burden on women because of depletion of drinking water, fuelwoodHealth, Social and Tribal Welfareand other resources

Loss of employment in fisheries, agriculture, horticulture and forestry sectorFisheries, Agriculture, Horticulture, Forest and Socialand Tribal Welfare


in disseminating false information, a fact that wouldcome to light if independent researchers were involvedin the studies. Consider as an example the experienceof Sariska Tiger Reserve. In early years of the presentcentury, the officials kept claiming that sizeablenumber of tigers were present, while the tourists failedto sight any. The Prime Minister then appointed aTask Force to look into the matter. This task forcehad access to the diaries of forest guards whichshowed that they were well aware that the tigers werebeing poached out. But the higher authorities didnothing beyond propagating false information on tigernumbers to the public as is evident from the figures(Table 2) from the report of the Tiger Task Force(2005).

Failur e to Act on Pertinent Legislation

Lote Chemical Industries Complex

Stiglitz and many other economists insist that pollutersmust pay for cleaning up pollution and other relatedsocial costs fully to ensure healthy economic growth(Stiglitz, 2012). In India today this principle is beingtotally ignored, in spite of the existence of legislationsuch as the Water Act. A case in point is that of LoteMIDC chemical industry hub in Chiplun taluka ofRatnagiri district in Maharashtra. During the WGEEPmeeting with Government of Maharashtra officials inMumbai on 30th September, 2010, the Panel wasinformed that a Ratnagiri District EnvironmentCommittee chaired by the Ratnagiri District Collector,and a very active ‘Lote Abhyas Gat’ attached to LoteMIDC was making sure that pollution was kept undereffective control. It turned out that no Ratnagiri DistrictEnvironment Committee was in existence. However,the Lote Abhyas Gat did exist, and WGEEP had ameeting with them on 5th October 2010. It transpiredthat although the Abhyas Gat was constituted in 2006,

only two meetings had been held till that date, the lastbeing in 2008. Representatives from Kotavale, theworst hit village were not included in the Abhyas Gatdespite their request. The Abhyas Gat had preparedsome norms on effluent discharge, but these werenot being followed. It is understood that manyindustries at Lote are pumping toxic waste into groundwater through bore wells. Apparently, three such caseswere brought to light, but there has been no action.

This Abhyas Gat meeting was followed by afield visit to Common Effluent Treatment Plant(CEPT) and some surrounding areas, as well as visitsto Dabhol creek and discussions with manycommunity members. It was revealed that the CETPcannot handle the quantity of effluent it is receiving,and its functioning is highly defective. There are otherproblems too. Around August 2010, toxic wastes weredumped by a tanker in the Boraj Dam which supplieswater to Khed town. The town water supply had tobe stopped for several weeks, but nobody has beenbrought to book. There has been significant decline infish landings from Dabhol creek due to Lote chemicalpollution, and severe loss of employment opportunitiesfor members of fishing communities. No proper studyhas ever been undertaken of any of these issues(WGEEP, 2011).

Public Hearings

One other area that has been at the core of controversyin terms of manipulation and falsification of informationis the mandated public hearings during the EIAprocess. It has been widely reported that the publichearing process is non-participatory and mostly‘managed’ in favour of the proponents with littleinformation about the project or its environmentalimpacts shared with the local people (Sinclair &Diduck, 2000; Martin, 2007; Diduck et al., 2007;HRW, 2012). Suppression of information and

Table 2: Tiger population estimates in Sariska Tiger Reserve

Year 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004

Tiger population (official census) 24 26 26 26 27 26 17

Tiger sightings by staff* 17 6 5 3 0 1 0

* Number of distinct animals present as judged by field staff


intimidation of villagers is common practice at mostpublic hearings (TOI, 2015). Pallavi (2014) in herarticle in the Down to Earth magazine describes thesituation at the public hearings of the proposed Rs9,393 crore Ken-Betwa river link project in MP’sChattarpur and Panna districts. The hearings werelargely confined to seeking fair compensation withoutany significant reference to environmental impacts.The following reaction of a villager quoted in the article,is typical of the manner in which EIA public hearingsare held:

“We do not know what this project is about.We came only because a jeep came to ourvillage, saying we were going to be displacedand that we should come to the publichearing. We have come to demand a faircompensation for displacement, because weknow we can’t stop the government fromthrowing us out”.

Plachimada Experience

A rare instance of a case where impacts of industrialactivity on the capital of natural resources and on thelivelihoods of people has been carefully assessedcomes from Plachimada, a Panchayat in Palakkaddistrict of Kerala where a Coca Cola plant is located.The Coca Cola plant has severely polluted as well asdepleted ground water in the area, leading to dryingup of wells, loss of agricultural productivity andconcomitant negative impacts on livelihoods. The stategovernment agencies had collected no pertinentinformation on what was happening. But Kerala hasmade substantial advances in decentralizedgovernance and the Plachimada Panchayat stood itsground, forced a proper scientific inquiry into thelosses suffered by the Plachimada residents and wentahead and rescinded the license of this global softdrink major. While canceling the license, the panchayatargued that it has the duty to protect the well-being ofits subjects. So it has the right to cancel or refusepermission to anything that affects its subjectsadversely. As a response, the state governmentconstituted a Technical Expert Panel that has estimatedthe economic loss suffered by the residents ofPlachimada at Rs. 260 crores and the state legislature

has gone on to unanimously pass a bill named“Plachimada Coca Cola Victims Relief andCompensation Claims Special Tribunal Bill 2011”(WGEEP, 2011). It is notable that this Act is stillawaiting President’s signature and the local peoplehave not received any compensation whatsoever.

System in Operation

The currently operational system of management ofenvironment related data in India may thus becharacterized as follows: Governmental agencies areresponsible for collecting most of the information thatpertains to environmental issues. A few agencies suchas India Meteorological Department (IMD) dischargepart of their responsibility competently, for example,properly recording temperature and rainfall data. Inrecent years IMD has also begun to share much ofthis information freely using the medium of theInternet. Even in the case of the meteorological data,the official network is very sparse and often hasserious gaps. For instance, it has little good informationfrom hilly terrain. In such contexts, owners of teaestates in Nilgiris have maintained excellentinformation that has been the basis of good scientificstudies.

Regretfully, IMD is an exception. OtherGovernmental agencies exhibit a number ofshortcomings (Gadgil, 2006b):

Failure to Maintain Records: Some such asDepartment of Mines in Goa have utterly failedto maintain proper records of operational mines.Much sand mining and stone quarryingthroughout the country is illegal and neverbrought on proper records. Similarly, FisheriesDepartments and Pollution Control Boardsmaintain no records of major events like largescale fish mortalities. Even scientificorganizations like the Indian Council ofAgricultural Research have failed to maintainrecords of significant parameters such aschanges in soil organic content of farmland,development of pesticide resistance amongstinsect pests, and spread of introduced genesfrom GM crops.


Very Patchy, Incomplete Information: Rapidlyplunging groundwater levels are a very significantissue. Very limited information is available onthis score. Remarkably, information on groundwater level for Goa is available for talukas notaffected by mining, but completely lacking intalukas affected by mining.

Suppression of Accurate Information :Pollution Control Boards are culpable in manycases of suppressing information on levels ofpollution greatly exceeding permissible limits,e.g. in the case of Vashishti river in Ratnagiridistrict of Maharashtra.

Deliberately Falsified Information : Forestryestablishment’s records of tiger populations areclearly exaggerated in many areas. On the otherhand, it has been claiming falsely that there areno tigers in Goa. A large proportion ofEnvironmental Impact Assessments, preparednot only by private agencies, but also by CSIRlabs like NEERI carry deliberately falsifiedinformation on issues like impact of mining onhill streams.

Failure to Make Information PubliclyAvailable : Significant sources of importantinformation such as the pollution related ZoningAtlas for Siting of Industries, or land userelated Regional Plan for Goa 2021 that oughtto be made available to the public are kept underwraps.

Failure to Involve Public in GeneratingUseful Information: Three significant avenuesfor involving the public in generating usefulenvironmental information, namely, preparationof ward-wise Environmental Status Report byLocal Bodies under the 73rd and 74th

Amendments to the Constitution, preparation ofPeople’s Biodiversity Registers by Local Bodiesunder Biological Diversity Act, and compilationof information generated through studentprojects under educational system-widecompulsory Environmental Education coursesare being tapped very little.

Active Discouragement of Involving Publicin Generating Useful Information : Unduerestrictions on public involvement in collectionof useful environmental information arecommon, especially in lands under the controlof Forestry establishment, which is country’smajor landlord controlling nearly one-fourth ofthe land surface.

ENVIS and Other Environmental InformationInitiatives

In response to these challenges, the Ministry ofEnvironment, Forest and Climate Change (thenDepartment of Environment), Government of Indialaunched an Environmental Information System(ENVIS) around 1983. ENVIS has evolved via afederated structure where selected institutions in thecountry have been designated as ENVIS nodes orcenters tasked to collect and disseminateenvironmental information in specific thematic areas.Currently, the ENVIS network has 68 centers whichinclude institutional, NGO and State GovernmentPartners. While ENVIS has some long-term and someshort-term objectives, the core idea for ENVIS is toact as a repository and disseminator of environmentalinformation (MoEF&CC, 2015). Although ENVIS hasby now completed over three decades in existence,information available from various ENVIS centers islargely document based comprising of newsletters,bibliographies, abstracts, annual reports, researchpapers, court orders, circulars etc. While someENVIS centers host databases, often times thesedatabases have either been found not to work orprovide very coarse information that has littleimmediate practical value in environmentalgovernance. The highly federated structure ofENVIS, imposed by its subject-centric segregationof information collation to partner institutions, makesENVIS lack design coherence. The sum of its partsdoes not seem to add up to a whole capable of aidingenvironmental decision making. The inadequacy ofENVIS to meet requirements of environmentalgovernance is substantiated by the fact that in spiteof the its existence from 1983 till date, MOEF&CCfelt the need to start and operate a new environmentalinformation facility called the Environmental


Information Centre (EIC) to function as aprofessionally managed clearing house forenvironmental information in 2002 (EnviroLink, 2002;Murthy, 2005). EIC started through a digital portal(Fig. 1) aiming to fill the environmental informationvoid by providing quality environmental informationto aid environmental planning and decision making.The examination of the following genesis statementdisplayed on the EIC website clearly suggests thatthe primary objective of setting up the EIC was tocater to improving the quality of EIAs and acceleratethe process of environmental clearances (EIC, 2004):

“The environmental decision making forenvironment clearance (as per the environmentregulations in India) to a large extent, has been anover the counter operation for project proponents, theenvironmental regulators and other stake holders.Technical specialists are consulted by policy anddecision makers, to assist in gathering information on

project screening scoping and on the quality ofenvironmental studies that have been submitted forevaluation. Because of the inaccessibility of goodquality of data, the decision making is often a time-consuming, inefficient and a faulty process. If the dataand analytical tools could be placed within reach ofthe decision makers, they would be able to consultthem more readily, and would therefore be more likelyto base their decisions upon more logical foundation.A committee was set up by the Cabinet Secretariat,with Shri V. Govindarajan as convener, to examineextant procedures for investment approvals andimplementation of projects and to suggest measuresto simplify and expedite the process of both publicand private projects. The committee pointed that theEnvironment clearance perhaps takes the longest timeand causes maximum delay to projects. Cumbersomeprocedures for environmental clearance and publichearing, submission of incomplete information, poor

Fig. 1: The EIC Landing Page (EIC, 2004)


quality of EIA/EMP, disproportionate details requiredfor the application, delays in the meetings of the ExpertCommittees and site visits are major reasons behinddelays. To ensure a speedy environmental clearanceas per the environmental regulations in India, theGovindarajan committee recommended that MoEFshould consider setting up a central data centre, whichcould serve as a one-stop source for obtaining reliableand validated data for preparing EIAs. The databasewill help screening and scoping for the EIAstudy. Experience in India indicates that lack of timelyavailability of reliable environmental data has beenone of the major bottlenecks in scoping of EIA andfor the preparation of quality EIA reports andconsequent environmental decision making process.Environment being a multidisciplinary area, multitudeof agencies are involved in collection of environmentaldata. However, there is no single organization in Indiathat tracks the data available among the multitude ofdata generators and makes it available in the formand manner required by the practitioners in the fieldof EIA. Further, the environmental data is often notavailable in a processed or value added form that canpossibly enhance the scoping, the quality of the EIAstudies and logical environmental decision making. Allthis in turn affects the effectiveness of EIA processby causing delays in conducting EIAs and in reviewingthe EIA reports for according timely EnvironmentalClearance (EC) as per the environmentregulations. With this background, EnvironmentalInformation Centre (EIC) was conceived. EIC wasset up to serve as a professionally managedclearinghouse of one stop environmental information”.

Information available from the internet archiveseems to suggest that the EIC, for reasons notimmediately apparent, gradually lost traction and finallystopped functioning around 2010 and its domain name– http://www.eicinformation.org – was not renewedthereafter. In the absence of the EIC and withoutany successor to the facility, the problem of qualityenvironmental information suitable for environmentalgovernance and decision making remains unaddressed.In this situation, the role visualized for EIC has nowbeen relegated to ENVIS via a recent officememorandum (MOEF&CC, 2014). With no

fundamental structural or design changes in ENVISin the past many years (discounting increase inmembership of partner institutions), it is difficult tovisualize how ENVIS can fit this role and meetspecialized information requirements that it is notdesigned to deliver.

A Transparent, Participatory, Public Database

Evidently, in the modern information age, we need tomove towards greater objectivity, transparency andparticipation by all segments of the society in allspheres of national activity, including generation andmanagement of environment-related information.

Promoting Objectivity

The Environmental Clearance process is a rich sourceof data relating to Indian environment. Regrettably itis today a flawed process that generates little reliableinformation. It is vital that it be reformed to ensureobjectivity and completeness of the informationgenerated, along with promoting transparency andparticipation. What is needed is: [a] assigningpreparation of EIA statements to a neutral competentbody that does not depend on payment by projectproponents. This will not only produce credibleenvironmental information but also avoid what hasbeen termed as ‘agenda-control’ in favour of theproponent (Hukkinen,2008) [b] making mandatory theinvolvement of local Biodiversity ManagementCommittees in the process of EIA preparation, [c]making mandatory taking on board all informationsubmitted and suggestions made during PublicHearings. In fact, the EIA must itself take public viewinto consideration at the very beginning of the process,rather than seek public view after preparing the report(Rajaram and Das, 2006). [d] making mandatory,periodic environmental clearance requirement,preferably every five years, [e] making mandatoryinvolvement of local Biodiversity ManagementCommittees in the process of monitoring ofimplementation of conditions laid down while grantingEnvironmental Clearances (Glasson,1994), [f] makingmandatory preparation of regional CumulativeEnvironmental Impact Analyses (WGEEP, 2011).


Promoting Transparency

Transparency is the hallmark of science and it is vitalthat India’s Environment Information System be totallytransparent. Fortunately, we have an excellent Rightto Information Act which should facilitate ensuringtransparency (DoPT, 2015). In this context, the mostimportant provision is the provision for suo motudisclosure in CHAPTER II Right to information andobligations of public authorities (2) - It shall be aconstant endeavour of every public authority to takesteps in accordance with the requirements of clause(b) of sub-section (1) to provide as much informationsuo motu to the public at regular intervals throughvarious means of communications, including Internet,so that the public have minimum resort to the use ofthis Act to obtain information.

India has also committed itself to opening up ofdata generated by public funds i.e. ministries/linedepartments by promulgating National Data Sharingand Accessibility Policy (NDSAP). The NDSAPdefines a dataset as open “if anyone is free to use,reuse, and redistribute it. Open Data is machinereadable and should also be easily accessible”. Infact, as per the NDSAP implementation guidelines,NDSAP is applicable to all entities in the governmentsetup and its “notification mandates governmentdepartments to proactively open up data” (NIC, 2014).While a beginning for dissemination of open data hasbeen made through the national open data platform –data.gov.in, there are hardly any high valueenvironmental datasets available that can be put toany serious use. Most datasets are quite old, availableonly as text or excel sheets and are not geo-tagged.In divergence with the NDSAP guidelines,Government departments are doing very little to shareuseful data via the national open data platform.Furthermore, the true value of environmental datasetswould be realized only when they are current,application centric and most importantly geo-referenced to be used as GIS layers. One significantopportunity to create and disseminate such datasetswould emerge if government departments, in pursuitof NDSAP and digital India mission, team up withBhuvan (ISRO, 2015) and make high value geocoded

environmental datasets available which can be usedto improve the quality of EIAs.

Promoting Participation

Modern science has abundantly demonstrated thatgood information flows from an open, transparentprocess that welcomes participation from all interestedparties. All over the world, citizens are a greatrepository of detailed information on many facets oftheir local environment. Our citizens, especially thosestrongly rooted to their local environments in theirpursuit of livelihoods, the barefoot ecologists, andstudents and teachers, whose business it is to acquire,grow and disseminate knowledge, ought to play animportant role in this process of building up a goodinformation resource on India’s environment. In thiscontext, a great opportunity has been provided byIndia’s Biological Diversity Act 2002 that mandatesthe establishment of Biodiversity ManagementCommittees in all local bodies, ranging from GramPanchayats and Nagarpalikas to Taluk PanchayatSamitis and Zilla Parishads and assigns to thesecommittees the role of preparing local levelenvironmental information in the form of “People’sBiodiversity Registers (PBR)”. It thus provides anexcellent platform for the involvement of the barefootecologists along with students and teachers forgenerating detailed systematic documentation on thelocal environment. Furthermore, these PBRs are notexpected to be just one time exercises of preparingwritten documents, but continually updated databaseswith provisions for maintaining certain information asconfidential and other information as publiclyaccessible. These local level databases are expectedto be linked to an Indian Biodiversity InformationSystem (Gadgil et al., 2000; Gadgil, 2006c).

Regrettably, the state and central governmentalauthorities have failed to support this most worthwhileinitiative. However, a small number of voluntary effortsby village communities collaborating with scientistshave produced some excellent models of what maybe achieved through this route (Gadgil and Heda,2009). In a more specific context, the Government ofSikkim has demonstrated the power of this approachthrough its Sikkim Springs programme. This highly


successful programme entails mapping of the hillsprings of the state with active participation of thelocal communities, with the data organized into a statelevel computerized and publicly available database(Sikkim Springs, 2015).

Environmental Education Projects

The study of environment is ideally suited to serve asa lever to get students engaged, not merely inmemorizing, but instead in learning, and in buildingcapacity for critical thinking and problem solving. Inthis context, the National Curriculum Frameworkexercise undertaken in 2005 has made two importantrecommendations that have been accepted by theCentral Advisory Board (CAB) on education, namely:

Involve students in first hand observation, andcollection and interpretation of information ontheir own environment.

Create a model system of collection ofinformation on the status and on-going changesin various environmental parameters with thehelp of a decentralized network of high schoolsand junior colleges.

Given its intrinsic variability, each ecosystem,along with its complement of biodiversity tends to beunique. Its understanding therefore calls for extensivelocality and time specific observations, carefuldocumentation and an elucidation of the patterns andunderlying processes. It is certainly feasible to initiatesuch careful, locality specific documentation of manyfacets of India’s ecology and biodiversity on the basisof student projects. Furthermore, the results of suchprojects could be uploaded on a publicly accessiblewebsite, thereby creating a transparent,comprehensive database on India’s environment. Byinviting, not only experts, but all interested citizens toassess the quality of such projects and augment theirresults, a self-correcting system could be set up thatwould lead to an organic growth of our understandingof Indian environmental scenario and concrete waysof undertaking positive action. Including suchknowledge generation activities as a part of theeducational process would greatly enhance the qualityof the educational experience as well (NCERT 2005,

2008).

It may be appropriate to mention here that theCentre for Ecological Sciences (CES) at the IndianInstitute of Science (IISc), Bangalore has beenengaged in experiments on such a model with anumber of High Schools and Junior and DegreeColleges in Karnataka since 1993. These experimentshave demonstrated that good quality data can becollected by deploying student power provided thatsufficient efforts are devoted to developing propermethodology, resource material and trainingprogrammes. As an example, students of 42Karnataka High Schools could collect data on levelsand recent trends in local abundance for 172 out of300 medicinal plant species used commercially inKarnataka. Only limited information on 27 of thesespecies is available with Government agencies orpharmaceutical industry. This data has been organizedin a Relational Database Management System (Gadgiland Rao, 1998). Regretfully, this excellentrecommendation of CAB has in no way beentranslated into practice.

Potential of Wikipedia

The rapidly advancing tools of ICT hold much promisein facilitating a participatory process of knowledgegeneration. Indeed, a whole new movement of CitizenScience has developed the world over in recentdecades under the impetus of the ICT revolution, inparticular the Wiki software, and availability ofknowledge resources such as Wikipedia. TheWaterwatch programme of the state of Victoria inAustralia provides an excellent model of such anapproach. The Waterwatch Victoria is a successfulcommunity engagement program connecting localcommunities with river health and sustainable waterissues and management. It was initiated in 1993 toenable the community to become involved in themonitoring and management of waterways in theircatchment, with volunteers with a passion for theenvironment, providing water quality data fromwaterways spanning the entire state. The data is usedto monitor waterways over time to establish theircondition and whether change (positive or negative)is occurring (Waterwatch, 2015). The Biological


Diversity Act and the student level EnvironmentalEducation projects provide excellent opportunities toset up a parallel programmes in India, opportunitiesthat are regretfully being deliberately sabotaged.

Given the very serious limitations of activatingofficial machinery into worthwhile action as evidentfrom the failures to deploy Biodiversity ManagementCommittees or operationalize the CABrecommendation on Environmental Education, it isworthwhile organizing an entirely citizen driven effort.This is certainly feasible, as has been demonstratedby Wikipedia that has successfully created anoutstanding, free, internet-based Encyclopedia(Reagle, 2010). Notably, this is an entirely citizen-based effort without any Governmental support orany special role for experts, and free of anycommercial influences. We should now considergenerating Wikipedia articles on each and everylocality covered by Census of India 2011 as was donewith the use of US Census data around 2002-03. Intosuch articles, the local citizens may then upload reliableinformation on issues such as mass mortalities of fish,which is invariably reported, at least in the locallanguage newspapers but fails to be consolidated.Notably there are now Wikipedia versions of all Indianstate languages. With proper use of hyperlinks, suchdata can be readily organized into a comprehensivetransparent, participatory and dynamic dataset.

The Way Ahead

The problem of collecting, collating, validating anddisseminating quality environmental datasets is indeeda complex one. It is clear that the existingenvironmental information practices in the country aregrossly insufficient to meet the needs of environmentalgovernance. The absence of freely available crediblebaseline information on various environmnetalvariables has resulted in a situation which is promotingdata manipulation, obfuscation and faslification. It isvital that urgent steps are taken in mission mode to fillthis information void by reimagining and redesigininga multipurpose environmental informationsuperstructure for the country. The recent launch ofthe Digital India intitative by the Government of Indiawith its focus on promoting geospatial data (DietY,

2015), further necessitates that the environmnetalinformation architecture be revisited and reallignedto serve the complex environmnetal and sustainabilitychallenges of the new millenium.

The emergence & growth of the internet in thelast two decades and the information collection anddissemination models that have evolved in its wake,have important lessons in reimagining theenvironmental information architecture of the country.It is imperative that the new architecture firmly keepthe following key tenets in view :

I. In addition to government and non-governmentalorganizations like Center for Science andEnvironment(CSE) and Ashoka Trust forEcology and Environment (ATREE),involvement of people, local communities shouldbecome a key component in gathering, uploadingand updating environmental information. Thelocal Biodiversity Management Committees andthe people bidoversity registers framework aspromulgated in Biological Diversity Act 2002& Rules 2004 (NBA, 2013) coupled with mobileand web technologies can prove invaluable inbuilding and maintaining information assets.

II. A national environmental researchers networkbe created and actively engaged to guide andcontribute to the environmental informationinitiative.

III. In keeping with the vision of the National SpatialData Infrastructure (NDSI,2015), there shouldbe a sustained effort to geocode environmentalinformation and make it available as GIS readydatasets such that environmental decision makingcan be informed by spatial intelligence.

IV. Environmental information, in the spirit ofNational Data Sharing and Accessibility Policy(DST, 2012), must be shared freely andtransparently with all.

V. The environmental information architectureshould incorporate national environmental dataquality standards that can define procedures forensuring credibility and validity of the informationbeing shared.


In pursuance of the above, the followinginitiatives can be undertaken to build the environmentalinformation infrastucture:

1. Starting a fresh initiative to create a newEnvironment Infromation Infrastructure that canact as a umbrella platform to collate anddisseminate environmental information in thecountry. This rethinking is also vital to allignenvironmental information collection anddissemination with the Digital India initiative.

2. Setting up of a Environmental InformationSystem Design Group to technically visualisethe design,development,delivery andmaintainence of the proposed informationsystem infrastructure.

3. Creating partnerships with public sector andprivate sector digital platforms. Two notablepartneships that can have considerable impactinclude (a) Bhuvan (ISRO, 2015) and (b) Google

Public Data Explorer (Google, 2015). TheBhuvan platform developed and maintained bythe Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)has, over the years, made remarkable progressin integrating and making available high qualitygeospatial information and tools. The Bhuvanplatform is already interfacing with manyministries and line departments (Fig. 2) and hasstable and mature tools for creation of onlineGIS ready shapefiles via a user friendlyinterface. Bhuvan is easily accessible andprovides information and remotely sensed datafrom the Indian Remote Sensing Satelliteconstellation free of cost. It has many usefulancillary layers which can be very useful in datavisualization. Currently some state forestdepartments like Karnataka have put forestboundary maps on Bhuvan demonstrating thepossible potential of this paltform forenvironmental data generation and dissemination.In view of the above, Bhuvan should play a very

Fig. 2: The Bhuvan Platform (ISRO, 2015)

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Fig. 3: Google Public Data Explorer (Google, 2015)


major role in the poposed environmentalinformation infrastucture as there is a hugeopportunity of convergence between allstakeholders via this platform.

The second platform that could make aconsiderable impact is the Google Public DataExplorer (Fig. 3). Leveraging the power ofanalytics, the Google Public Data explorer isusing many sources of public data like UN,Worldbank etc. to provide powerfulvisualizations of data. There is a goodopportunity to partner with Google by permittingGoogle to access publically available Indianenvironmental datasets and include them in theGoogle public data explorer directory andpossibily integrate them as Google Earth andGoogle Maps layers. The e-Green Watch portalof the MOEF&CC for the management ofprocesses related to plantation and other forestryworks provides an initial glimpse of suchintegration (e-Green Watch, 2015).

4. Finally, the Indian citizens should also pursueindependent crowd sourced initiatives likeWikipedia to build public repositories ofenvironmental information that are totallyindependent of any Governmental involvementor control.

Conclusion

It is imperative that we transform the current opaque,exclusionary and bureaucratically controlled systemof managing information relating to India’senvironment into an open, transparent andparticipatory system. Indeed, we should aim to launchit as a people’s movement, a movement that shouldbe spearheaded by the country’s scientific community.

What can Science Academies do?

Our Science Academies would do well to prepare awhite paper on this topic by constituting aninterdisciplinary group of the Fellows representingvarious pertinent disciplines. This paper should alsoincorporate a systematic assessment of the extent ofcurrent practices violating values of science.

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